Scott Clendenin — In Remembrance

intothewellsabyss
Mar 24, 2023
3 min read

In Remembrance of Scott Clendenin (January 17, 1968 – March 24, 2015)

Bassist Scott Clendenin passed away eight years ago today. He was only 47 years old at the time of his passing. R.I.P. Scott Clendenin.

(𝚁𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢, 𝙲𝚑𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚛, 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗)

Scott Clendenin was most notable for his time spent in the bands Death and Control Denied, both of which were formed by Chuck Schuldiner.

(𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖, 𝙲𝚑𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚛, 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢)

Clendenin died due to undisclosed reasons on March 24, 2015, with former bandmates and Death's manager Eric Greif expressing their shock and sympathy.

(𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗)

Biography:

Scott Clendenin was born in Titusville, Florida on January 17, 1968. Clendenin began his musical career in the band Talonzfury, which he created alongside Chris Williams on drums and Paul Payneon guitars. The three recorded an album together under the name and even attempted to hire Shannon Hamm, which did not work out. Shortly after that, Williams met Chuck Schuldiner at a party and played him a copy of the Talonzfury album, which led to Schuldiner hiring him, Hamm, and Clendenin as the original Control Denied lineup. Payne also tried out on vocals, however, this did not work out. However, not long after their induction, Williams departed from the band and was replaced by Richard Christy.

(𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕 𝙳𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚍, early lineup; 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖𝚜, 𝙲𝚑𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚛, 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖, 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚒𝚖 𝙰𝚢𝚖𝚊𝚛)

At this time, Death's record label was reaching out to Schuldiner to tell him to work on another album for Death in order to release the Control Denied album. With this in mind, Schuldiner hired the three members of Control Denied to record the new Death album alongside him. The band would record the album, which would be the seventh Death album, titled The Sound of Perseverance. The next year, Control Denied released their debut album, however, Clendenin had been replaced by former Death bassist Steve Di Giorgio, who played on the album The Fragile Art of Existence. Clendenin would, however, continue to perform with Death, even appearing on a live DVD titled Live in L.A. (Death & Raw).

(𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑, 𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙻.𝙰.)

In 2001, Schuldiner died at the age of 34, which resulted in the disbanding of the band. Clendinen would seemingly retire from the music scene, likely grieving from the loss of Schuldiner, as well as Chris Williams who had died a year prior in 2000.

(𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑: 𝙳𝚃𝙰 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚄𝚂𝙰. 𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝙽𝚎𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝟹/𝟻/𝟷𝟹. 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝)

In 2012, Clendenin came out of retirement to play on the Death to All tour, which featured himself and Di Giorgio on bass, Hamm, Paul Masvidal, and Bobby Koelble on guitars, and Sean Reinert and Gene Hoglan on drums.

(𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚃𝚘 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟸 𝚄𝚂 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛)

Following the tour, however, the band were informed of a conflict, which led to changing the name in August 2013 to Death: DTA. Clendenin would play in both the 2012 and 2013 tours with the band.